ABSTRACT
The history of the theatre and the development of its architectural form are well documented (see general references at the end of the chapter). Yet, as already mentioned, the acoustic design of theatres is by contrast meagrely charted territory. This would be of little consequence if all theatres provided intelligible speech. This chapter traces the historical development of theatre form, seen from an acoustic standpoint. The argument is illustrated by detailed discussion of 12 British theatres of various stage forms. It will become apparent that the conditions for speech are deficient in some of the more recent theatres.
